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Helicopter parents behave the way they do out of fear. They want to see their child be successful and safe and they are afraid that their child will have neither.

Research is pointing that such parenting methodology will have the opposite effect however. Instead of being successful and safe, children of helicopter parents are less likely to be able to regulate their own emotions, are more depressed and less satisfied with their lives.

From my experience as an educator, parents find it easier to label OTHER parents as helicopter parents instead of themselves. Looking at our own behaviour is often much more difficult to do and to assess fairly.

But if we want to help our kids truly, we need to change this behaviour. With any big changes the first step is to determine if you are part of the problem rather than the solution. BBC has provided an online test that you can try that also includes some useful parenting tips.

Try it and then if the results are not as favourable as you would have liked them, commit to taking steps to work on your own parenting style, rather than label the quiz results as useless.

American Psychological Association. “Helicopter parenting may negatively affect children’s emotional well-being, behavior: Children with overcontrolling parents may later struggle to adjust in school and social environments, study says.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 June 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180618102627.htm>.